The measurements of greenhouse gases and ozone depleting substances at the Zeppelin Station near Ny-Ålesund on Svalbard at 78°54' N are carried out by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) and are financed by the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT). The CO2 program is maintained by Stockholm University financed by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Greenhouse gases: SOGE is an integrated system for observation of halogenated greenhouse gases in Europe. A network is being developed between the four stations. SOGE is funded by EU.

Participation in international monitoring networks
Air measurements are being conducted at the Zeppelin Station to investigate concentrations of gases with greenhouse and/or ozone depleting effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), and aerosols have only a greenhouse effect whilst chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and halons also deplete the ozone layer. The emissions of these groups of gases are restricted by the Kyoto and Montreal protocols.

The measurements at the Zeppelin Station form part of several global, regional and national monitoring networks.

Measurements are important
Long series of continuous measurements are important for identifying possible changes in concentrations of both greenhouse gases and ozone depleting gases in the atmosphere. Measurements have been carried out at the Zeppelin station since 1989. The location with minimal local pollution sources makes the Zeppelin station well suited for the monitoring of global levels and trends

Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases
The monitoring at the Zeppelin Mountain Station in 2003 revealed that the upward trend of most greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continued. The highest percent increase was the 25 percent rise of the concentrations of HFC-125 and HFC-134a which is even more than the 20 percent rise measured the year before. This rise is probably a consequence of the phasing-out of CFCs controlled by the Montreal Protocol, as HFCs have been introduced as substitutes for CFCs.

Even though global emissions of CFCs have been reduced considerably over the last few years, only small reductions in the concentrations of CFCs have been registered so far and some CFC species are even still growing in concentration. This is likely due to the fact that these gases have very long lifetimes in the atmosphere.

More CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere
As for CO2, measurements show a rising trend, with an increase in concentration of 8 percent over the last 20 years. The results from the observatory at Svalbard closely match those found at other monitoring observatories around the world. The increase was about 0.3 percent from 2002 to 2003 

CH4, the second most significant greenhouse gas showed an increase of 1 percent from 2002 to 2003

Read more about:

• Greenhouse gas monitoring at the Zeppelin station: Annual report 2003 (PDF document)            
• Measurements at the Zeppelin Station at Svalbard (NILU)

For enquiries, please contact:

• SFT: Adviser Harold Leffertstra, Section for Climate and Energy
  telephone: +47 22 57 35 12, e-mail: harold.leffertstra@sft.no  
• NILU: Frode Stordal
  telephone: +47 95 17 89 17,e-mail: frode.stordal@geo.uio.no  
• NILU: Norbert Schmidbauer
  telephone: +47 63 89 82 15, e-mail: ns@nilu.no  
• NILU-Tromsø: Kim Holmen
  telephone: 77 75 03 86,e-mail: kjh@nilu.no